Lessons Unplanned

     This last week was Kindness Week and our school celebrated by having a school-wide Kindness Challenge. Students were encouraged to find new ways to be kind to each other, and it was so fun to see all the 5th graders get so excited about spreading kindness! 5th grade has been an absolute BLAST so far, and I have had so much fun beginning to teach and plan full lessons! My mentor teacher has been SO amazing, and has helped make all my lessons even better. I've been learning so much about my own teaching style, and establishing those clear expectations early on to make classroom management easy. My class is great, and the students are so much fun to talk with and hear how they see the world. Some of the things the students say and do make me laugh, and wish I could record all the funny things they say throughout the day. My days at school sort of make me want to relive my 5th grade days.      It's been a crazy few weeks, with my increased teaching in ...

My sweet goodbye letters I received from my 2nd Graders. It has been an absolutely crazy last 2 months, but I have been having the BEST time. While UCI has been getting intense (the edTPA.. help..), I started my new Student Teacher placement in a 5th grade class in IUSD (Irvine Unified School District) and have fallen in love with teaching 5th grade. It was tough saying goodbye to my 2nd graders, and I wish I was able to spend more time with them. While it was extremely challenging at times, I learned so much from those students, and how to be a better teacher. It was so fun spending the time before Winter Break with them, and getting to experience the week before break as a teacher, instead of a student. The excitement that surrounded Winter Break was contagious and the students were all so excited to talk about what they had planned for Winter Break. My last day was bittersweet, and I was given a huge envelope of student letters, each note capturing the student's personality ...